Chapter 8

The explosion deafens me. I cannot hear the screams but I can see them through my blurry eyesight. I realise that I am slumped up against the cold metal frame of the 'cake'. My eyesight slowly returns and I see people running away into the forest. I get up, a pain searing through my head. I reach up and touch the warm blood trickling down the side of my face. I gather my balance and stumble around the outside and there I see horror.

Children are slashing each other. I see their blood pour over the ground. I want to look away but I can't. I'm hooked like a fish. The Cornucopia looks huge from where I'm standing; my head still pounds. And then I realise I'm standing in plain view. I need to run; I need to get out of here.

Someone grabs my neck and pulls me backwards. I try to scream but I can't. They are suffocating me, strangling me. I struggle in their arms but I'm fighting a losing battle. Then I feel their grip loosen and something warm drop down my neck. They drop to the floor with a long spear sticking out their back.

Cash stands there staring at me with a sword in his hands and a bag in his other. He throws the bag at me and before I have time to ask him why, he has sprinted off into the woods.

I, hurriedly, pick up the bag and shove it on. Without thinking, I yank the spear from inside of him and I hear the squelch of his organs. Disgusting. I take the small knives from his belt and loop them into mine and I carefully place one in my boot. A hidden weapon.

I'm about to run into the forest when I see a small blonde girl run around the corner. I know she's a career instantly by the fact that she's covered in blood. She spots the boy on the floor and me with my blood soaked spear. She smiles an evil smile at me and sprints right at me, swinging her mace in the air. I jump off the 'Cake' and run straight towards one of the buildings. I kick open the doors and run up the carpeted stairs. I hear her run in behind me but I don't dare to look back. I run all the way up, not stopping once.

I get to the roof and kick it open. My heart pounds in my chest. I need to get away from her. I need to lose her. I don't want to kill her and I certainly don't want her to kill me. I look around to see if there's anywhere I can hide but there isn't. Blood is pouring down my face now. I feel like I'm going to black out if I don't find some place to sit down.

"There's nowhere to run 12." Sneers the Bulky girl behind me.

I turn and she starts at me, lunging at me; she grips her mace tightly. I want to run but there's nowhere to go. And then defeat sinks in and the tears start rolling down my face. The girl laughs at them as she walks towards me. I back up against the edge of the roof and I see the bloodbath below. Her laughing echoes in my ears as I stare at the dead. It angers me. She can laugh after killing those children and she thinks she's going to kill me too. Well, she has got this situation very wrong.

I hold my spear up to her. "If you come any closer… I'll have to kill you."

"Really? I'd like to see you try." She smirks. "You may have a 12 but I know you'd never use it."

I wipe away the fallen tears with my empty hand. I try to stifle my sobs and steady my hand but I can feel the adrenaline coursing through my veins.

She jumps at me and I narrowly dodge the spiky ball. I duck and run behind her; I kick her in the back. She lands against the wall with a thump. She spins and snarls at me. She swings her mace at me again, and again I narrowly dodge it. I grab her wrist and squeeze so that she drops the mace with her other hand she pushes against my face to make me fall over. Before I collapse, I manage to kick the mace a long way away. She wrestles me to the ground. She wraps her fingers around my neck. In the struggle I have dropped my spear and I am now too far away from it.

My vision dots with dark splodges and I feel her fingers tighten. I feel all the energy draw from me and with my last effort I knee her in the groin. She flies over the top of me and I quickly scramble on top of her. She kicks her legs in the air as I pin down her arms with my knees. She screams at me as I gasp in the air around me. It no longer smells like sweet berries; it smells thickly of blood. Before I gather what I'm doing, I pull one of the knives from my belt. She screams louder now. She calls for her fellow 'Careers'.

"Devyn! Brent! Help me! Erwin! Waldo! Pliny!" she bellows. "I'm over here."

I slit her throat as quickly as ripping cloth. I feel her warm blood drip down onto the cold concrete roof, and onto my hand. I look at my clothes and see that they too are dowsed in blood. I clamber off of her writhing body. The last few squirts of blood spout out of her throat and then her body goes rigid and I know it's over. I killed her.

I need to leave in case the other 'Careers' come and find me here. 5 against 1 isn't exactly fair and the odds would certainly not be in my favour. I reattach my blood-soaked knife to my belt, grab my spear and her mace, because she doesn't need it now, and I run back down the stairs. It's only a few levels before I feel dizzy again. I need to lie down, stop the bleeding. I run down the stairs as my vision becomes blurry. I reach the bottom floor, panting and sweating, and instead of running outside, I see a door under the stairs. It's well hidden yet I pull another plant in front, to hide it more. I yank open the door and close it quietly as the 'Careers' charge in. I hear them storm up the stairs. My heart pounds in my chest and my breath catches in my throat.

My vision dots again and I get a wave of dizziness. My head throbs as I slump down, exhausted, against the door. My vision blackens and I fall into a dark nightmare.

When I wake up, I realise that my ears are blocked as I cannot hear the dripping of the pipes that line the ceiling. I'm in a long, grey and damp corridor. Ah, water. I crawl over to the small pool that has collected on the floor. I stare at my reflection. I'm a mess. My face is covered in dried blood, not only from the huge cut on my forehead but from various smaller cuts around my face. I use the water to wash away the blood and I see a large bruise around the gouge on my forehead. At least I'm clean now. Well, cleaner.

My t-shirt is speckled in blood. I don't know if it's mine, or that girls. I can still see the blood on my hands. I scrub at it but it doesn't come off. I try everything but it's on me like a stain. I stand up, my legs threatening to buckle, and I slowly walk towards the flat wall at the end (picking up my spear and mace). I reach the cold wall and I place my damp hand on the cold, hard surface. I see a small gap to the side; just big enough to slip my hand in. At first, I thought it was a figment of my imagination. But with desperation and panic set in my heart, I reach in and the wall swoosh's open. A cold draft breezes in and I take a step into the dark staircase. The stairs go down and the light disappears with it. I take a few more unsteady steps inside and the door slide back behind me. Panic leaps up into my heart; I start banging on the solid wall. Then the rim starts glowing white and I try to calm my mind. They haven't trapped me in here. They haven't, I think to myself. I look to the sides. I slip my hands into both edges, hoping to find a lever here too. And, I do.

The door slide back again, revealing the damp and dark corridor with its bloody puddles and dripping pipes. I relax slightly, as much as one can in these awful situations. I turn back and start walking down the stairs. Then a thought hits me: 'Am I allowed to be here?' If I'm not, will they send something to kill me? I walk on, regardless of that last thought, and down into a dark cellar. A cellar similar to the one I was locked in as a child. Every sense in me urges me to run but I am too exhausted to run anywhere. There's nothing in here, besides me.

I slump down the side wall and into the slit of light emanating from the grubby, long glass window I look out and see its ground level and it looks out over the centre of the arena. The bodies have gone and the 'cake' had now lowered into the ground creating a massive circle in the middle of the arena. My belly rumbles and breaks me out of my daze. I must have been asleep for hours. I'm not exactly sure how long. I'm so hungry; I need to find food. But how? I'm in no condition to even move. Maybe Ronald will help me.

I hear music far off in the distance. It grows louder and I realise it is The Isle's national anthem:

Honour, Glory and Perfection for our race;

The Isle can help anyone who knows their place;

Friendship and Freedom are our main aims;

Love and Affection for anyone who claims;

Strong and Courageous to anyone who knows;

In the Capitol anything goes;

The Isle is here to help those in need;

They are here to help those who plead.

The Isle is strong;

The Isle is mighty;

It will conquer those who oppose;

The Isle is wise;

The Isle is new;

It will open when all else, is closed.

For some reason, I feel obliged to sing along. So I do. I hate the song, I really do. It's such a lie. The Isle is one big lie. It makes me so angry to think that the people in the Capitol think that their way of life is right, when it's not.

Once the anthem finishes, I watch as the symbol of the Isle appears in the sky followed by all the dead Tributes. There are so many. I count them. 42 in total. I saw Bergwind; the girl from earlier. I now know it's still it's the first day, unfortunately. The dead Tributes are as follows: 2, 3, 5, 7, 8, 10, 13 (the boy who blew up), 19, 20, 21, 25, 28, 32, 34, 37, 39, 45, 50, 52, 54, 58, 61, 67, 72, 75, 76, 83, 86, 89, 90, 92, 95, 97, 100, 105, 106, 107, 109, 110, 112, 114 & 116.

Luckily, Cash and Shelby are not dead. But if I want to go home, they have to die. I just hope I don't have to kill them. Devyn is still alive. For now. I'm so hungry right now. I haven't eaten in ages. But where am I going to find food?

Then a thought hits me again. My backpack. I haven't checked in it. I take off my grey and black bag and unzip it. I pull out a long rope, an empty metal bottle, and a pot of matches and a packet of plasters with two bandages. Then there I see them. A packet of crumbled biscuits and a packet of dried fruit. Nothing with any juice in it. But none-the-less, I savour every bite of them even when my senses were telling me to just stuff my face. My stomach is satisfied but my mouth is dry. Maybe, I'll get some sleep tonight, but am I truly safe here? Do the 'Careers' know where I am? I doubt it. So to that 'comforting' thought I close my eyes and fall into a deep, haunted sleep.